Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Thinking, writing, business ideas … You're only a stranger once.

July 15, 2009

How Can Social Media Enhance Sales?

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 8:34 am

Social Media CRM
A Guest Post by Jacob Morgan

jacob-morgan1

Nowadays we are really starting to realize and see how social media can be integrated into various business processes and departments. One of the areas that is of greatest interest is sales. In this post I wanted to address a few ways that social media can help with the sales.

Social Media CRM

Social media doesn’t need to replace your current sales process, in fact, it shouldn’t. However, what social media can do is ENHANCE your sales process. Two of the most powerful social media CRM tools in my opinion are Facebook and Linkedin. Let’s take a look at a few reasons why:

Ongoing Relationships

relationships button

The traditional process for selling usually involves a severing of the relationship ones the prospect declines (or perhaps accepts an offer). Sure the prospect goes back into the “prospect” bucket for a follow up call in several months but that really doesn’t mean anything. With social media you can keep the relationship and the dialogue going with that person and when they are ready to make a purchase you will know about it. How do you keep the relationship going? Here are a few ideas:

Building Trust and Authority

This is a big one; before I get into explaining this let me first say building trust and authority also takes the most amount of time. A lot of companies don’t understand what building trust and authority really entails and they are under the guise that this can be done in just a few months, not so. I would say give yourself AT LEAST one year before you start to see yourself or your brand START to get recognized as a trusted authority.

Ultimately the best way to begin to build trust and authority is by creating content that demonstrates your knowledge and/or expertise in a particular area. If you’re a master carpet weaver then you need to be out there creating content that shows you are a master carpet weaver (talk about different kinds of carpet, how to get started with weaving, where to buy the best carpets, etc). How does this help with sales? Well, the next time someone ends up looking for a carpet, guess who they are going to come to? Building a relationship with someone is great, but building a relationship with someone where you are considered a trusted authority is better.

What else would you add to this? How has social media helped or enhanced your sales process?

_____
Jacob Morgan is a social media consultant and the principal at Mighty Mouth Media, a social media consultancy. Jacob is also the author of the soon to be released Twittfaced, a book on social media 101 for business. You can find Jacob on twitter or on his social media blog.

Look for more Jacob Morgan posts in the future. Thanks Jacob!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Buy the ebook. Learn the art of online conversation.





Filed under Successful Blog | 10 Comments »




C'mon. Let's talk!

10 Comments to “How Can Social Media Enhance Sales?”

  1. July 15th, 2009 at 10:47 am
    Web Media Daily – July 15, 2009 said

    [...] How Can Social Media Enhance Sales?…   Successful Blog [...]

  2. July 15th, 2009 at 11:29 am
    SmartBlog On Social Media » Blog Archive » Today’s bonus tracks: A look at the new Surge said

    [...] Ways that social media can improve your sales process [...]

  3. July 15th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
    Matthew Ray said

    I think that if youre going to start using social media for sales – you need to be able to track it.

    Can your sales process handle it today? Do you need to tweek it a bit? Or do you change everything around and start fresh?

    Before you start to push sales leads on Twitter, LinkedIng, etc.. maybe its time to re-evaluate the stale process you have in place today. Kill two birds with one stone

    Jacob – as always, great insight.

    -Matt

  4. July 15th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
    Using Social Media to Enhance Sales said

    [...] Head over to Successful Blog to keep reading about how social media can enhance sales. [...]

  5. July 15th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Great advice, Matthew!
    Bad selling is bad selling. A new tool doesn’t make a bad sales process or rude, in your face sales pitch any better. So glad you added this point. :)

  6. July 21st, 2009 at 8:48 pm
    Why Social Media Is Not For Everyone « The Effective Marketer said

    [...] a good plan , if you follow a proven framework for rolling out your social media activities and integrate them with your sales efforts , then the ROI will be clear . That is, if you can translate all those additional site visits, [...]

  7. July 24th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
    Why Social Media Is Not For Everyone « Neoco’s blog – keep up to date with the best digital marketing agency in the world! said

    [...] a good plan , if you follow a proven framework for rolling out your social media activities and integrate them with your sales efforts , then the ROI will be clear . That is, if you can translate all those additional site visits, [...]

  8. July 27th, 2009 at 2:52 am
    Using Social Media to Enhance Sales | said

    [...] Head over to Successful Blog to keep reading about how social media can enhance sales. [...]

  9. August 21st, 2009 at 9:22 am
    WOMUK » Blog Archive » Why Social Media Is Not For Everyone said

    [...] a good plan , if you follow a proven framework for rolling out your social media activities and integrate them with your sales efforts , then the ROI will be clear . That is, if you can translate all those additional site visits, [...]

  10. April 27th, 2010 at 10:06 am
    Neoco | Blog | Why Social Media Is Not For Everyone said

    [...] a good plan , if you follow a proven framework for rolling out your social media activities and integrate them with your sales efforts , then the ROI will be clear . That is, if you can translate all those additional site visits, [...]

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

C'mon Let's Talk!